


Week 5:  Reader expectations and preference (Captive Prince meta)

by Mesa



Series: Five Weeks of Captive Prince Meta [5]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:20:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mesa/pseuds/Mesa





	Week 5:  Reader expectations and preference (Captive Prince meta)

With this post, I’m completing my personal challenge, and making it to the last week of waiting.  What a relief.  Anything I post from now on will be after I know how it all ends!

For my last entry I want to look at some of the pressures that might have impacted the final installment of the series, and fess up to some of my own personal predilections.

### Random thoughts

But first, putting on the record two questions I want to see answered in the third book:

  * What is the mystery between Laurent and Govart?  We know there’s something more between them, not only because Damen thinks it: 

_And it was suddenly clear that there was something more between Laurent and Govart than Damen knew_  
  
… but because Laurent admits it:  
  
_‘Why did you leave Govart alive?’  
‘Why not?’  
‘You know why not. … You were well within your rights after Govart charged at you. And there was no shortage of witnesses. There’s something else.’  
‘There’s something else,’ Laurent agreed, looking at Damen with steady eyes. _




And:

  * Why are there rumours about Laurent and Auguste?  Not just Govart: __  
  
‘Your problem,’ said Govart … ‘is that the only man you’ve ever been hot for was your broth—’  
  
... but Aimeric too, explicitly accuse Laurent of having a relationship with his brother:  
  
_‘I don’t betray my family. I’m not like you,’ said Aimeric. ‘You hate your uncle. You had unnatural feelings for your brother.’_  
  
The suggestion is that this is a common belief in Court.  And Laurent goes to the trouble of denying it to Damen.   
  
_‘What Govart said about my brother and I . . . it wasn’t true.’_  
‘I never thought it was,’ said Damen, uneasily.  
‘I mean that whatever . . . whatever taint exists in my family, Auguste was free of it.’  
  
Clearly, there is an inappropriate relationship within the family – between Laurent and the Regent – but why are there rumours about Laurent and Auguste?  Is there a connection between the “taint” of the Regent and the rumours about Auguste?



### Mainstream publication

I’ve been wondering how much of a breakthrough _Captive Prince_ is for fanfic-inspired original fic in mainstream publishing.  It’s obviously not the first – _Twilight_ , _50 Shades of Grey_ , and others come to mind – but those are pretty aggressively het.  On the other hand, Cassie Clare’s _The Mortal Instruments_ series has a bi character, was published by a somewhat mainstream publisher and spent weeks on the NY bestseller list.  But, Penguin is a major publisher, _Captive Prince_ isn’t a YA title, and the m/m relationship is way out front, so I do think it’s a bit of a first.

### Reader expectations

It’s hard to believe that Freece first starting writing the series in 2008 – that’s a good eight or nine years ago now.  A lot has changed in that eight or nine years.  Back then, m/m original fic was much rarer than it is now; the whole genre of m/m romance that we see now in GoodReads and Facebook groups didn’t really exist.  Kindle readers, Tumblr, self-publishing on Amazon or Smashwords, and smaller genre-based fiction aggregators like AllRomance, all came along during that period.  

Along the way, reader expectations changed.  Tumblr culture challenged narrative conventions, raised awareness of larger social justice issues, and shaped a more critical analysis of many of the common tropes seen in fanfic, fantasy and m/m genres.  All of which has created a different environment and different set of expectations for the stories we want to tell and to read.

But back in 2008 when Freece started writing the original _Captive Prince_ , times were different, and we were all, I think, much closer to the earlier conventions of fanfic and yaoi culture.  Slavefic was a semi-popular genre that wasn’t generally questioned from an SJ perspective; it was purely an id-satisfying narrative trope that many of us enjoyed.  From that perspective, you really couldn’t come up with a more satisfying premise than having a disenfranchised prince who vaguely resembles Conan the Barbarian (that has always been my mental image for Damen) set up as the slave of a beautiful blond ice-prince from an enemy country who has good reason to hate him … and ultimately falling in love.  

Many readers have commented on the way the tone of _Captive Prince_ shifted, from id-based slavefic to a much more complex plot- and character-driven political/military quasi-historical fantasy.  I do think this reflected Freece’s own evolving interests and abilities, at the same time as it more or less synced up with the evolving nature of the genre.  And as the years passed, it also brought her a new kind of readership – one coming from a different starting point and with a different set of expectations about relationships.  

I see this a lot in readers who analyze the dynamics between Laurent and Damen through the lens of a healthy long-term relationship.  Many argue that only Laurent knowing Damen’s true identity could justify the torture he inflicted on Damen early on.  Some point out that Damen was actively hiding his true identity when he slept with Laurent, which would make Laurent’s consent dubious at best.  Others say Laurent would need to actively acknowledge and apologize for his early mistreatment of Damen before they could see a satisfying relationship between the two.  Laurent often seems to be viewed primarily as a survivor of child sexual abuse, and Damen as a victim of Stockholm syndrome. The ultimate expectation is for Laurent and Damen to recognize and make amends for past mistakes so that they can face each other as fully conscious, freely consenting, healthy adult equals. 

Of course I can’t speak for everyone in my generation but it seems to me these considerations weren’t so prevalent back when the story was starting out.  In fact, for myself, the completely dysfunctional relationships and unequal power dynamics were the absolute heart of the story’s appeal to me.  I don’t mean that I wanted the novel to remain a traditional slavefic and not stray beyond that genre – I loved the evolution and growing complexities of the story.  But I can’t say that my ultimate goal is for Laurent and Damen to forge a mature, equal and non-problematic relationship.

However unhealthy it may be in real life, my id loves the idea of a captive prince falling for his captor.  Of course I knew from the beginning that Damen would eventually become free and resume his rightful position as Laurent’s equal.  But that is not the dynamic that appealed to me – what I liked was watching Damen’s unwitting attachment, his slow burning devotion and desire, his growing loyalty, for the man he was forced to serve, and who had caused him so much pain.  I do like to see the ice-prince slowly warm up as well, but what I really want is Damen saying, “ _Laurent, I am your slave_.” 

Until I saw other readers speak about it, it never actually occurred to me that Laurent needed to be redeemed for his earlier treatment of Damen.  Again, not that I think it’s a good idea in real life for people to fall in love with their torturers; but for this particular fantasy story, I was perfectly happy to let it go.  Damen hurt Laurent by killing his brother; Laurent hurt Damen through beatings and bondage; my id-centred pleasure centres really don’t need any more than that. 

But today’s readers do.  I can see that – they want a mature and equal relationship between Damen and Laurent, and for that they need acknowledgement, atonement, redemption, awareness … all the characteristics of healthy adult relationships.  I can’t begrudge other readers their own ways of viewing the story, and I would never suggest that my perspective is better or more “right” for the story.  But the fact is that we can’t both get what we want.  The darker, more unequal dynamic that I fell in love with is just not congruent with the mature and healthy relationship the majority of the current readership is expecting.

I have to wonder what process Freece went through when she planned the third book.  Whatever her own preferences or intent might have been at the beginning of the story, she had evolved far enough through the end of the second book to create a clear set of expectations in her readers.  And with a large mainstream publisher like Penguin, many of her new readers, picking up the first two books during this latest hiatus, wouldn’t have come from the world of slash or fanfic or fandom at all – they would have been coming in with an entirely different set of background assumptions, a different starting point, from her original readers.  

Freece must have recognized the challenges inherent in satisfying all of those expectations.  Of course I’m not suggesting that she would stray from her original vision or intentions.  But the pressure on her, going into the last book, must have been enormous.  I often wonder how much that might have contributed to the long period it took to get the last book out.

### My preferences

All right, enough waxing theoretical.  Now it’s time to let my own id out to play.  I know I’m not likely to get what I actually want in the last book – it probably wouldn’t make for a very good series ending if I did, to be honest.  But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming (and already planning the fanfic).

I remember that one of the biggest debates we had on Freece’s LiveJournal while she was serializing the second book was over who we wanted to top, in the eventual love scene.  Yes, I know that’s an old outdated way of thinking, and in the new world we recognize that a male couple’s relationship isn’t characterized by their relative choice of sexual position, and that sexual preferences don’t reflect a couple’s relationship or dynamics.  Of course I understand this.  But that doesn’t make me any less likely to have a preference for a fictional couple.  And with Laurent and Damen, I strongly preferred Laurent on top.

Once again, I remember being surprised at how at odds I was from the general reader preference.  Votes were going at least two to one in favour of Damen topping, during the informal poll Freece ran in her LiveJournal comments.  I was shocked at first that anyone would imagine for a second that Damen would top.

Then I was surprised – again! – when I realized that the handful of readers who did share my preference generally wanted Laurent to top for a very different reason from my own:  they seemed to like the idea of the smaller/physically weaker partner to top, in direct contrast to the traditional yaoi seme/uke trope of the dominant “seme” character topping.  This reversal of traditional expectations became a very popular fanfic trend in the years after that – I feel like it’s hard to even find a Sterek fic with Derek on top, and bottom!Agron was by far the favourite in Nagron circles, as a couple of examples.  

But weirdly, that wasn’t why I wanted Laurent to top.  My preference was actually the most traditional of them all:  I wanted the dominant partner to top, and for me, Laurent has always been the dominant partner in the Damen/Laurent relationship.  Maybe it comes out of the most basic fact that Laurent was the original master and Damen was the slave, and I got used to it.  But I think it also has to do with the way Laurent handles himself – not just cool and distant, but authoritative at all times – and the way we see Damen become more and more devoted to him.  Not that I don’t think Laurent is developing feelings for Damen as well.  But it’s Damen who actively chooses to support, to stand by, to _serve_.  That’s always been the dynamic that most appeals to me – one strong man willingly serving another.

That brings us back to the “Does Laurent Know?” debate.  Only now I’m not debating.  I’ve already made my argument that the end result could go either way, but of course I’m more or less resigned to the truth being that Laurent has always known.  You’d think this would appeal to me, since what I want is for Laurent to always be in control -- and the more he knows, the more he’s in control.

But what I want even more than that is for Damen to be in the weaker position, and Laurent stronger.  If Damen has in effect betrayed Laurent – been dishonest with him, held out on a critical fact – then it’s Damen who needs to earn Laurent’s forgiveness, and re-earn his trust.  That’s my own personal preference – I want Laurent in the driver’s seat, Laurent deciding whether to forgive or not, Damen uncertain.

Towards the end of the second book, we started to see a stronger and more dominant Damen.  There’s a line of Laurent’s that I completely sympathize with:  “’ _You_ ,’” he says to Damen, “‘ _with your barbaric attitudes, your brutish, domineering arrogance, are always_ **right**.’”

That was my frustration as well, as we went along – Damen grew consistently right, even as Laurent became more occasionally mistaken or misguided, more human.  I’m sure for many readers this was part of the appeal --part of what moves the characters towards that more equal relationship we’ll no doubt end up with.  But I completely shared Laurent’s aggravation.

The most annoying Damen moment, for me, is when they finally sleep together and Damen just assumes – as though by rights – that he’s going to top:  

> _Seeing the look in Laurent’s eyes, Damen deliberately pushed him back onto the sheets.  
>  … Lifting a hand idly to the exact place above his head where Damen might have pressed it, Laurent gazed back at him through veiled lashes. ‘Like being on top, do you?’  
>  ‘Yes.’ Never more so than at this moment.  To have Laurent beneath him was heady._

Of course we could see this a simple expression of Damen’s preference, and maybe it is.  But I don’t see it being up for discussion; I don’t see Damen asking Laurent what his preference is.  Given Damen’s usual insistence on enthusiastic consent, this seems like a pretty strong statement of entitlement. 

My guess is that Damen will bottom at some point in Book 3 – it will be part of depicting them as equals in a healthy mutual relationship; and I also recognize that Laurent is perfectly capable of remaining in control even when he’s not actively topping, as we see in Book 2.  

But I still want a confrontation scene in which Laurent is angry, wounded, betrayed, and Damen is apologetic and remorseful.  The first snipped in chapter 9 – where Damen is worried that Laurent will be angry when he wakes up – reassures me somewhat.  For me, Laurent discovering Damen’s real identity works perfectly for the kind of dynamic I want to see; but perhaps there is another way of playing out events, where Laurent has known all along, that would also work.  

Not everyone feels this way, I realize.  I’ve seen some readers who like the idea of Laurent being apologetic to Damen for pretending he didn’t know.  And of course many readers still want Laurent to be held accountable for his brutal treatment of Damen back at Arles.  

We can’t all win, as I remind myself regularly.  And I don’t envy the position Freece was in when she sat down to start the third book.  

But there has to be some part of it for all of us to love, and I am so glad the wait is almost over.  


End file.
